ARDS v2.0 Specification

The open standard for AI-readable project documentation

One format. Every AI coding agent. Define your project context once — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Copilot understand it automatically.

Read the Spec Quick Start

SurfContext Project Structure

project-root/
  CONTEXT.md              # Canonical root context
  surfcontext.json        # Machine-readable config
  .context/
    agents/               # Agent definitions
    docs/                 # Knowledge documents
    skills/               # Skill definitions
    queue.md              # Task queue

5 AI tools. 5 config formats. 0 standards.

Every AI coding agent invented its own way to read project context. Your team maintains duplicate files that drift out of sync.

Claude Code

CLAUDE.md

Codex CLI

AGENTS.md

Cursor

.cursorrules

GitHub Copilot

.github/copilot-instructions.md

Windsurf

.windsurfrules

replaced by

SurfContext

CONTEXT.md + .context/ + surfcontext.json

How it works

Three files. Universal compatibility. Zero lock-in.

Write your context

Create CONTEXT.md and a .context/ directory with your agent definitions and knowledge docs.

Target platforms

Add surfcontext.json to declare which AI platforms to generate config files for.

AI auto-discovers

Open your project in any supported AI tool. It reads your context automatically -- no copy-paste, no per-tool config.

Platform compatibility

SurfContext generates the right config file for each platform from a single source of truth.

Platform	Generated File	Status
Claude Code	CLAUDE.md	Supported
Codex CLI	AGENTS.md	Supported
Cursor	.cursorrules	Supported
GitHub Copilot	.github/copilot-instructions.md	Supported
Windsurf	.windsurfrules	Supported

Ready to standardize your AI context?

Get started in under 5 minutes. No dependencies, no build step, no lock-in.

Get Started Read the Full Spec